The Magyars were one of those martial peoples who marched out of Central Asia into the
pages of European history. Actually they mainly rode in from the far east of Europe, just west of the
Urals. That migration occurred just about 900 A.D. when they conquered the plains of what is
now Hungary and Transylvania. They were seven tribes under the leadership of Árpád. It was
not just a blatant invasion. The Holy Roman emperor Arnulf asked the Magyars to help subdue the
the Moravians.

Long before the migration/invasion of the Magyars the territory had been occupied by Celts and Illyrians and
later made part of the Roman
Empire. It was a fertile territory on the margin of the
Germanic territories so it was subject to attempted conquest by Germanic peoples. But another
Asian nomadic tribe, the Avars, conquered the Hungarian plain and held it for two centuries,
from 600 to 800 A.D. It was the Germanic Charlemagne who finally took control from the Avars.

When the Magyars settled in the Hungarian plain they raided far and wide in Europe for
about sixty years until finally defeated by the German king Otto I. The Magyars accepted
Christianity in the late tenth century and led a more subdued existence thereafter. The cost
of the Magyar raids to Europe were offset by the benefit that Europe gained from having a
martial people as a buffer against the invasions of other martial peoples from Asia. The
Mongols spent some of their fury on the Hungarians, saving western European territories from the
full brunt of their onslaught in the 13th century. When the Turks came knocking on Europe's
door in the 15th century it was the Hungarians who again slowed the invasion. The Hungarians
were not victorious against the Turks but they did limit the Ottoman advance.

After the Turkish invasion of the Hungarian plain the Hungarians lost control of their
destiny until about 1990. First Hungary was divided between the Ottomans and the Hapsburghs.
Once the Turks were driven out, Hungary remained under the control of Austria. World War I
brought political independence from Austria, but the ties were still strong enough to bring
Hungary into the Axis coalition. The defeat of Germany in World War II only transferred control
to the Soviet Union. Hungary remained a conquered territory until the fall of Communism and
the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Hungary was an ally of Nazi Germany in World War II. With the collapse
of the Axis Powers Hungary came under the occupation of Soviet troops.
Stalin was not about to let Hungary emerge from occupation as anything
other than a puppet Communist state, a satellite of the Soviet Union.
Stalin permitted a period of transition from 1945 to 1947 in which
Communist-dominated coalition governments ruled, but in 1948-1949 the
Hungarian Worker's Party, the Communist Party in Hungary, became the
sole political organization running the country. A constitution in
1949 gave the Hungarian Workers' Party an exclusive monopoly on political
power.

During the period 1949 to 1953 a Stalinist system, political and
economic, was put into place. In 1953 Imre Nagy was made prime
minister and he announces intention of moving the country in a new
direction, called the New Course. In 1955 Nagy was removed from power.

During the following two years after Nagy's removal there were growing
dissension and protest. In October of 1956 the Hungarian Revolution
breaks out. The revolution is initially successful and Imre Nagy
assumes leadership, but the Soviets send in troops to suppress the
rebellion and install János Kádár as prime minister.
Imre Nagy, after being promised safe passage, is taken prisoner and
executed. The Hungarian Workers' Party is renamed the
Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party

After 1956, following the suppression of the Hungarian
Revolution, there is severe repression of the Hungarians but this gradually
gives way by 1966 to attempts at economic reform. Over the period from
1968 to 1972 a system of reform, called the New Economic Mechanism, is
implemented. The is the beginning of what is sometimes called
Goulash Communism.

Goulash Communism

Goulash is a delcious Hungarian beef stew made with vegetables and lots
of paprika. The word has come to stand for a mixture of things.
In Hungary Goulash Communism came to represent an attempt to introduce
market economy elements without acknowledging that there had been any
deviation from a socialist economy. The Hungarian Communist leadership
recognized that any ideological dissent with the Soviet system would be
put down brutally but quiet reforms would be allowed.

The increase in petroleum prices in 1973 brought a financial crisis to
many place in the world and Hungary was one of them. The limited export
earnings of Hungary could not pay for the higher cost of petroleum and
the government leadership was forced to borrow. As the foreign debt
piled up the government looked for ways to encourage more exports. Thus
an economic restructuring was forced upon Hungary. Additional financial
crises arose in 1979 with the rise in oil prices following the Irnina
Revolution. Furthermore the political instabilities in Eastern Europe
were resulting in reduced funds available from Western banks. All of this
added up to a more desperate search for solutions to Hungary's financial
problems. In 1982 Hungary joined the International Monetary Fund. This
provided some security against balance of payments catastrophes but at the
cost of complying with the IMF's economic programs.

In the 1980's the standard of living in Hungary deteriorated. Many
Hungarians were working two jobs to make ends meet. By 1989 the proportion
of Hungarians living below the poverty level was estimated to be between
25 and 40 percent.

In February of 1989 a new constitution was drafted which eliminated the
special status of the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party. Independent political
parties and labor unions were permitted. It was the end of the Stalinist
political and economic system. The Communist leaders themselves called for
a three-year transition to a mixed economic system. Democratic organizations
debated on how many of the state enterprises were to be privatized.